In the past, he had to do everything in the examinationroom.

Now, Dr. LeDon Langston has dedicated treatment rooms, speciallyequipped spaces that allow him to perform some of the finerprocedures in primary care medicine.

“I have a treatment room where I can open abscesses or take offtoenails, that kind of thing,” he said. “I’ve got a lot moreroom.”

Of course, the new King’s Daughters Medical Clinic at 950Brookway Boulevard is furnished to allow Langston and his staff todo much more. Equipped with 16 total rooms for offices, exams andtreatment and staffed by Langston, two nurse practitioners andsupport personnel, the new family clinic was designed to meet theneeds of the masses and located appropriately.

It sits on the hill in front of Wal-Mart and just west of SuperD, one of the highest traffic areas in Brookhaven.

“We’ve been known as a quick care clinic for a long time. Westill want to provide quick care, but we also want to emphasizethis is a family medical clinic,” said KDMC Chief Executive OfficerAlvin Hoover. “We know there’s a primary care shortage in LincolnCounty, and we want to make our primary care options moreaccessible.”

Hoover is expecting the new clinic to serve 1,000 patients permonth in the early going and reach 2,000 people per month by theend of the first year. The new facility will see walk-ins andappointments from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday, and from8 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.

Hospital officials and representatives with theBrookhaven-Lincoln County Chamber of Commerce cut the red ribbon toopen the new clinic Friday morning, but it’s already servedpatients for a week. So far, the new building is meetingexpectations.

“It’s much bigger than the old clinic,” said Tammy Lofton, nursepractitioner. “It helps with patient flow, being able to getpatients in and out quicker.”

Where the old Quick Care Clinic adjacent to the hospital had anumber of rooms shared by the staff, the new clinic is broken intofour pods, with each pod containing an office, nurse’s station,three exam rooms and a treatment room. The new clinic also has itsown laboratory and x-ray room, major investments that allow it tooperate mostly independently of the hospital.

The new clinic is better than the old quick care facility inevery way, said nurse practitioner Tina Reed Hearn.

“It was old and dated. It had been used over and over bydifferent physicians, and it was originally set up for orthopedics.This building was built to be a clinic,” she said.

With the new clinic up and running on Brookway Boulevard, theold clinic will be reverting to its original use.

KDMC Clinic Systems Director Larry Mills said a fulltimeorthopedic service headed by Dr. John Turba would open for businessin the building sometime in February. Renovations for the newoffice began last Monday.

“There are a lot of orthopedic needs in Brookhaven,” Millssaid.